Former South Carolina GOP executive director Todd Kincannon is known for making provocative statements on Twitter, but his latest series of tweets has caused an uproar on the Internet and even brought on death threats.

On HuffPost Live Monday, Kincannon defended his tweets, claiming that they were nothing more than satire, but that they highlight just how politicized the Trayvon Martin case has become.

“The left has decided that Trayvon Martin was just this perfect little angel,” Kincannon said. “He was a thug. He
tweeted about drug use. This guy, he was a criminal, and the left has decided to make him some sort of martyr. That is what I don’t understand.”

Speaking to HuffPost Live’s Jacob Soboroff and Alyona Minkovski, Kincannon tried to argue that the response to his statements are because he is a conservative. He said he understands some find his words to be “tasteless,” but that it’s time for Americans to be able to say what they actually think without being afraid.

“I stand for free speech and I stand for honest speech, and I think more people need to use it,” Kincannon said.